Windows Live ID Support

I think this is the worst customer service experience I’ve had in recent memory. Microsoft Windows Live ID’s support staff has repeatedly ignored the question I asked, and answered different questions. I think they’ve answered a different question each time, too, despite my restating the question I want answered in each message I send them. Frankly, I’m amazed. I wouldn’t expect things to be this bad by accident; they must be doing this on purpose.
A couple of weeks ago as part of a project for work, I was sent instructions for logging in to the Microsoft Volume Licensing Support web site, which began with instructions for creating a Windows Live ID (formerly .NET Passport, or somesuch). I was unable to create the ID. The instructions I was sent told me to contact MVLS support if I had any problems, so I did:

I’m trying to create a new Windows Live ID so I can log in to the MVLS web site on behalf of the University of Washington [snip] team, and I’m running into a problem. It won’t accept the email address I’m entering at the “Create credentials” page. It gives me the following error:

The portion of your e-mail address that follows the @ symbol is part of a “reserved domain” such as live.com, hotmail.com, msn.com or passport.com. Please type a different e-mail address.

The email address I’m trying to use is “[snip]@u.washington.edu”. It won’t accept [snip]@washington.edu or [snip]@cac.washington.edu, either. I’m at a loss. How should I proceed?

We appreciate your patience in allowing us time to research the information and respond to your issue. You will need to login in to the www.passport.net site and follow the prompts to gain assistance towards your issue. As, we specialize with the navigation of the MVLS website and activation of Software Assurance benefits only.

Ok, fair enough. I’m a little confused about the misspelling of my name, but whatever. Lots of people spell it wrong. So they can’t help me, but maybe they know who can:

On Tue, 27 Mar 2007, MVLS Help wrote:

> We appreciate your patience in allowing us time to research the
> information and respond to your issue. You will need to login in to the
> www.passport.net site and follow the prompts to gain assistance towards
> your issue. As, we specialize with the navigation of the MVLS website
> and activation of Software Assurance benefits only.

Alas, I can’t login to www.passport.net–my problem is with creating an account there to begin with. If I go to that site and navigate the help system, there is no reference to the error I’m getting, and no apparent way to contact a human for help.

Do you happen to have contact information for anybody who can help with Windows Live ID account creation problems? An internal directory listing, maybe? I realize that this isn’t a problem with your service specifically, but I figure it can’t hurt to ask.

Thanks,
[etc.]

This resulted in probably the most helpful email in the whole exchange. Paula gave me support for a service she’s not responsible for supporting. Good for her. It’s a pity that the problem I’m trying to report prevents me from following the instructions:

What type of problem do you have?
I need to know how to do something.
Change my Credentials
Change my Email Address

Full Name:
Joshua Larios

What e-mail address would you like a response sent to?
jdlarios@[UW]
Primary e-mail address/member ID associated with the account you are inquiring! about:
jdlarios@[gmail]

Be specific when describin g your problem. The details that you include enable us to promptly send you the most likely solution to your issue.
I’m trying to create a Windows Live ID for the [snip] software purchasing group at the University of Washington. I was unable to create a Live ID using my university email address, so I created one using my personal gmail address with the intention of changing it later.

I can’t do that, either. I get the same error message I got when I tried to create the account:

The portion of your e-mail address that follows the @ symbol is part of a “reserved domain” such as live.com, hotmail.com, msn.com or passport.com. Please type a different e-mail address.

The email address I’m trying to use is [snip]@u.washington.edu.

Frequency of the issue:
Always present

How do you access your account?
Computer

Who is your ISP?
Other

Type of Internet connection:
T1 or faster, or company ! LAN

Have you recently installed any new software (if you enter yes please add more comments in the text box above)?
No

Thank you for writing to Windows Live ID Technical Support. Before anything else, please accept my sincerest apology for the delay in answering your e-mail. We normally respond within one business day, but we have received an unusually large number of messages recently. We greatly appreciate your patience on this matter as we handle every customer request as quickly as possible. This is Christian and I read from your message that you are having issues in registering your jdlarios@[UW] e-mail address as a Windows Live ID since our system is prompting you that it is already registered in our system. I know how important this is for you and I am here to help with your concern.

After thoroughly searching for the jdlarios@[UW] account, I f! ound that it is already registered in our system. It is possible that you may have registered this account before.

You may now use your jdlarios@[UW] e-mail address to sign in to participating Windows Live ID sites such as:

1. Visit https://account.live.com and then click the Windows Live ID that appears on the page, even if that Windows Live ID is not yours.
2. Click “Forgot your password.”
3. Type the Windows Live ID of the account for which you want to reset the password.
4. Type the characters that you see in the box in the picture or click the speaker icon and type the numbers that you hear.
5. Click “Continue.”
6. Click “Send password reset instruction to me in e-mail.”
7. Click “Continue,” and then click “OK.”
8. When you receive the e-mail from Microsoft Customer Support, follow the instructions to reset your password.

After resetting your password, I suggest that you change your secret question and answer as well. Please follow the procedure below:

1. Visit the Windows Live Account page! at https://account.live.com
2. Sign in using your Windows Live ID sign in name and password.
3. Next to ��Question,�� click ��Change.��
4. Type your password in the ��Password�� box.
5. Select your new ��Question�� from the drop down list.
6. Enter your ��Secret Answer��.

Additionally, I also suggest that you update the profile information for your jdlarios@[UW] Windows Live ID.

To update your profile information, please follow these steps:

1. Visit the following Web site, and then sign in to your account: https://account.live.com/
2. On the “Windows Live Account summary” page, click the “Registered information” link under your e-mail address and information.
3. On the ! Registered Information page, make any necessary changes.

Please note that the information under “Home location” is important because it is used with your Question and Secret Answer for password reset.

4. After you make your changes, click “Save.”

If you continue to experience problem in resetting your password, please reply to this message using your jdlarios@[UW] account, and include the following sentence in your response: “This is my e-mail address and I would like to reset the password of my Windows Live ID.”

Joshua, you are a valuable customer to MSN and we are glad to give you consistent and effective service.

Sincerely,

Christian
Windows Live ID Technical Support

If you are currently located in United States, find out how easy all-in-one PC care can be with the 90-day free trial of Windows Live OneCare. To get started, paste this link in y! our browser: http://www.windowsonecare.com/?sc_cid=SPT_ppt

That doesn’t exactly answer my question. In fact, it ignores it completely. Grr.

> After thoroughly searching for the jdlarios@[UW] account, I
> found that it is already registered in our system. It is possible that
> you may have registered this account before.

I may have, but that’s not the question I asked. I was asking about creating a new ID using a u.washington.edu address, which it appears is not possible at this time. This is easily reproducible–just try to create a new set of credentials using an existing email address, and make up an email address that ends in u.washington.edu. I just tried again with a number of fake addresses, all ending in u.washington.edu, and got the same error message as before.

I’ll repeat my question:

> I’m trying to create a Windows Live ID for the [snip] software
> purchasing group at the Unive! rsity of Washington. I was unable to create
> a Live ID using my university email address, so I created one using my
> personal gmail address with the intention of changing it later.
>
> I can’t do that, either. I get the same error message I got when I tried
> to create the account:
>
> The portion of your e-mail address that follows the @ symbol is part of
> a “reserved domain” such as live.com, hotmail.com, msn.com or
> passport.com. Please type a different e-mail address.
>
> The email address I’m trying to use is [snip]@u.washington.edu.

The “reserved domain” is what I’m asking about.

Yours,

After sending that, I went on vacation for a week. When I got back, this was waiting for me:

Thank you for writing back to Windows Live ID Technical Support. This is Richard Ian and from what I have read in the correspondence between you and my colleague, I understand that you were able to register Windows Live accounts using under the u.washington.edu domain. I know how important this is to you and I look forward to providing you with the necessary assistance.

Josh, an EASI Windows Live ID is a Windows Live ID that is crea! ted by using an e-mail address that is not part of Windows Live or MSN. For example, you can create a Windows Live ID by using an e-mail address from one of the following domains:

– yahoo.com
– gmail.com
– u.washington.edu

When you create an EASI Windows Live ID, you must confirm that you own the account that you used to create the EASI Windows Live ID. You will receive a Windows Live validation e-mail message at the e-mail address that you used to cre! ate the EASI Windows Live ID. < SPAN>

If the e-mail account associated to the EASI Windows Live ID, the user cannot validate the account and the EASI Windows Live ID will not be confirmed.
You are a valuable customer to MSN and we are glad to give you consistent and effective service. I appreciate the time you took in sending us your message. Thank you for using Windows Live ID.

Sincerely,

Richard Ian
Windows Live ID Technical Support

If you are currently located in United States, find out how easy all-in-one PC care can be with the 90-day free trial of Windows Live OneCare. To get started, paste this link in your browser: http://www.windowsonecare.com/?sc_cid=SPT_ppt

> Hello Josh,
>
> Thank you for writing back to Windows Live ID Technical Support. This is
> Richard Ian and from what I have read in the correspondence between you
> and my colleague, I understand that you were able to register Windows
> Live accounts using under the u.washington.edu domain.

How difficult is this to understand? I have _not_ been able to register a Windows Live account under the u.washington.edu domain.

> Josh, an EASI Windows Live ID is a Windows Live ID that is created by
> using an e-mail address that is not part of Windows Live or MSN. For
> example, you can create a Windows Live ID by u! sing an e-mail address
> from one of the following domains:
& gt;
> – yahoo.com
> – gmail.com
> – u.washington.edu

Yes, I know that this is how it is supposed to work. But what you are telling me is simply not true. I can _not_ use an email address in the u.washington.edu domain, despite your assurance that I can. I have included the specific error message I get in every single piece of correspondence I’ve had with you, and you keep ignoring it. Please pay attention this time. This is the error message I get when I try to create a Windows Live ID using my washington.edu email address:

>>> THIS IS THE START OF THE ERROR MESSAGE < <<
The portion of your e-mail address that follows the @ symbol is part
of a "reserved domain" such as live.com, hotmail.com, msn.com or
passport.com. Please type a different e-mail address.
>>> THIS IS THE END OF THE ERROR MESSAGE < <<
See the bit about a "reserved domain"? I don't get that when I create an account using my gmail address. I only get that when I try to create an account using a washington.edu address. _THAT_ is the problem I'm trying to report. If you don't understand this, please escalate this issue to a supervisor until it reaches someone who does understand.
> When you create an EASI Windows Live ID, you must confirm that you own
> the account that you used to create the EASI Windows Live ID. You will
> receive a Windows Live validation e-mail message at the e-mail address
> that you used to create the EASI Windows Live ID.

No, I can’t even get that far. See the error message above. It’s not that I can’t confirm that I own the account, it’s that the site won’t let me create a Windows Live ID associated with that account in the first place.

You can verify this problem yourself in under a minute:

+ Go to https://login.live.com/
+ Click on “Sign up for an account”
+ Check “Yes, use my e-mai! l address” and click “Continue”
+ Try to create a new account using any email address that ends in @u.washington.edu, @washington.edu or @cac.washington.edu. It doesn’t matter what the address is.
+ Watch for the error message to tell you that you can’t create an account using that email address, because it’s part of a reserved domain.
+ Tell me again that I don’t understand how to create a Windows Live ID.

Thank you for writing back to Windows Live ID Technical Support. This is Joyce and I read between your and my colleague. You are having issue accessing your jdlarios@[gmail] account. I know how important this service is to you. Let me help you resolve this issue.

Joshua, I reviewed your information regarding to your issue. I suggest to you to contact the University of the Administrative domain to better help you.

You are a valuable customer to MSN and we are glad to give you consistent and effective service. Thank you for using Windows Live ID.

Sincerely,
Joyce
Windows Live ID Technical Support

If you are currently located in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
“urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />United States, find out how easy all-in-one PC care can be with the 90-day free trial of Windows Live OneCare. To get started, paste this link in your browser: http://www.windowsonecare.com/?sc_cid=SPT_ppt

> Thank you for writing back to Windows Live ID Technical Support. This is
> Joyce and I read between your and my colleague. You are having issue
> accessing your jdlarios@[gmail] <mailto:jdlarios@[gmail]> account.

No, that’s not the issue I’m having. The issue I’m having is that I can’t create a new Windows Live ID tied to a University of Washington email address. The jdlarios@[gmail] account is a red herring. I can get to that account just fine; it’s only in play because in order to find the customer support email address, I had to create a working Windows Live ID, so I used my gmail account.

> I know how important this service is to you. Let me help you resolve
> this issue.

Actually, at this point it’s an academic issue for me. My immediate issue has been worked around, and now I’m just trying to get anyone to acknowledge that there is, in fact, a problem with the Windows Live ID signup process.

> Joshua, I reviewed your information regarding to your issue. I suggest
> to you to contact the University of the Administrative domain to better
> help you.

That doesn’t even make sense. I appreciate that it’s not one of your support macros, so there’s bound to be some confusion, but what? I suspect you’re telling me to contact the administrator of the University domain. But that’s not where the problem is. The problem is on your site. The error message I’m getting comes from your site. Something in the Windows Live ID signup process believes that washington.edu is a reserved domain like hotmail.com or msn.com. If I were to contact any of the UW administrators, they’d tell me that this is a problem at your end, not theirs.

> You are a valuable customer to MSN and we are glad to give you
> consistent and effective service. Thank you for using Windows Live ID.

Well, it’s consistent, at least. I’ve now gotten answers which did not acknowledge my problem from Christian, Richard Ian, and Joyce with Windows Live ID Technical Support, as well as Julie and Paula with Microsoft Volume Licensing Services. At least Julie and Paula have an excuse–the problem isn’t with the service that they support directly.

I’ll include yet another copy of the problem as I’ve been trying to report it. All I’m asking is that this be read by someone who is not evaluated on how quickly they answer a question, but on how well. Preferably someone who does not have a library of support macros they use to create each response, since this clearly isn’t an issue that the macros can address.

> This is the error message I get when I try to create a Windows Live ID
> using my washington.edu email address:
>
> >>> THIS IS THE START OF THE ERROR MESSAGE < <<
> The portion of your e-mail address that follows the @ symbol is part of
> a “reserved domain” such as live.com, hotmail.com, msn.com or
> passport.com. Please type a different e-mail address.
> >>> THIS IS THE END OF THE ERROR MESSAGE < <<
>
> See the bit about a “reserved domain”? I don’t get that when I create an
> account using my gmail address. I only get that when I try to create an
> account using a washington.edu address. _THAT_ is the problem I’m trying
> to report. If you don’t understand this, please escalate this issue to a
> supervisor until it reaches someone who does understand.

> You can verify this problem yourself in under a minute:
>
> + Go to https://login.live.com/
> + Click on “Sign up for an account”
> + Check “Yes, use my e-mail address” and click “Continue”
> + Try to create a new account using any email address that ends in
> @u.washington.edu, @washington.edu or @cac.washington.edu. It doesn’t
> matter what the address is.
> + Watch for the error message to tell you that you can’t create an
> account using that email address, because it’s part of a reserved
domain.

Yours,

We’ll see what happens next.

Update This is what happens next:

Hello Joshua,

Thank you for writing back to Windows Live ID Technical Support. My name is Sabrina and I understand that you are receiving the error message: “The portion of your e-mail address that follows the @ symbol is part of a “reserved domain” such as live.com, hotmail.com, msn.com or passport.com. Please type a different e-mail address.” when you tried registering an account with a domain name @u.washington.edu, @washington.edu or @cac.washington.edu. You have also mentioned that you did not receive that error message when you registered your @gmail.com account. Furthermore, you want to create a Windows Live ID that is associated to your University of Washington e-mail
address. I know how important it is to resolve your issue and I am here to provide you assistance to your concern.

Joshua, please be advised that the reason why you are unable to create a new e-mail account associated to your University of Washington e-mail address is ! because the domain names: @u.washington.edu, @washington.edu or @cac.washington.edu are all reserved domains. Reserved domain means that the domain is a property of an existing commercial, governmental, academic, or private entity, such as Bank of America, Microsoft, Stanford University, or America Online. Registering this domain could adversely affect existing users who are associated with this domain and raise concerns about trademark and copyright infringement.

Since you have mentioned that you have already registered an account, your @gmail.com, as a Windows Live ID then I suggest that you just use it to access any Windows Live sites.

You are a valuable customer to MSN and we are glad to give you consistent and effective service. Thank you for using Windows Live ID.

Sincerely,

Sabrina
Windows Live ID Network Technical Support

If you are currently located in United States, find out how easy all-in-one PC care can be with the 90-day free trial of Windows Live OneCare. To get started, paste this link in your browser: http://www.windowsonecare.com/?sc_cid=SPT_ppt

33 thoughts on “Windows Live ID Support”

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Oh, I figured out what the problem was a while ago. It was basically what Ted thought–someone had reserved everything in washington.edu, rather than in a test subdomain like our admin had requested. It was a screwup on the part of Windows Live, though, as I thought.

I appreciate your comment, Barry, but it doesn’t make any sense that Live would prohibit creating generic accounts with .edu addresses on the off-chance that that institution might eventually sign up for their service. That’s something you address during service migration, not before you even have that site as a customer. (Which is to say: your comment makes as much sense as anything that I got from the official Live support team.)

As it happens, the problem never really did get solved. I thought it had been, because I talked to the admin at the UW who had been working with Microsoft and had requested a test subdomain, and he said he would make sure that they fixed it so only the subdomain was reserved, not the whole domain. But I just checked, and I’m getting exactly the same error as before. So, fuck, I dunno. Clearly, mailing their support staff doesn’t work.

my Daughter Created an account over a year ago and is more than happy with it. She was using it four or five times a day. every day She had friends all round the world writing to her. Then one day she logged in as she has done many times before. Up come the password invalid message imagine her frustration!!!!

So we pulled a blarney we went to the sign in page to create a new account only to get the message this user id has been reserved for..ect ect ect.

funny… I just google’d for anyone else having problems w/ this Microsoft “Customer service” and “Richard Ian”. I guess Richard is really fast on the replies b/c he’s been promoted to a supervisor! He’s the 3rd layer of worthless, canned support I’ve received for their service.

I too had the error but I have determined the source and reason. The problem is in the error message and the Help information. The answer is that the name domain has been setup by the domain owner in the Live Services system as a Live Custom Domain, OfficeLive, or Windows Azure. This then reserves the domain in Live Services. Once reserved the domain owner(administrator) can delegate Live IDs in that domain. So no matter what name you put in it will be rejected for that domain with one exception explained below.
This gives control to the domain owner as it should be. I grant you that many domain administrators are unaware of this issue but it is by design.
Consider companyXYZ.com hires Bill. Bill is assigned by the administrator an email account in the corporate domain. Bill then uses his companyXYZ.com account to identify himself at FaceBook.com and creates an account on FaceBook.com. Later Bill is fired because of improper conduct. Is it unreasonable that the company should be able to delete Bill’s email address? No. Further the company doesn’t want Bill representing the company in any way including using the email on FaceBook. At present there is no feedback to a FaceBook type company. So Bill will eventually have to change his email address on FaceBook if he wants to continue using that service.
The exception I mentioned above. If your administrator created an account in a reserved Live domain it “IS” a Live ID. It doesn’t then need be created because it will already exist from the moment the administrator created it.

I hope this helps clear up this issue for you. If you get that message then it is really by design. I hope the documentation gets fixed which is the real problem.

hi i really need your help i am using my girlfriends account because someone has hacked my account and changed the password can you get back to me on the email address as soon as possible. please i really need help